my lg gsa-4120 is VERY fast with eac in secure mode (because of c2) and is a very good allround drive. the only thing that i don't like is that it cannot read the last bits of an audio-cd with eac (dosen't support overreading).

i don't think it's a stupid question, for me it would be interesting too which drive works best with eac. now i only rip to lossless with cuesheet and really DON'T like that i can't get the last bits of the cd. i'm a perfectionist, maybe someone else doesn't care about it, but i do.

I bought a Plextor PX-W5224A specifically so that I could rip those few CDs that have an INDEX 0 entry on TRACK 1. My Toshiba DVD (which the Plextor replaced) could not, and neither does my Lite-On DVD burner (SOHW-832S).

The Plextor Premium gets a lot of good references, but the PX-W5224A was 1/3 of the price.

As well as just being an excellent all round CDRW you also get Plextools which gives you an alternative to EAC if you have a problem disc. Plextools burns so fast for me.

I would love a Plextor PX-716A DVD burner.

I'm sure there are many other good drives, and drives that can rip TRACK 1 INDEX 0 data, but for £23 I'm well happy with my PX-W5224A.

I bought a Plextor PX-W5224A specifically so that I could rip those few CDs that have an INDEX 0 entry on TRACK 1. My Samsung DVD (which the Plextor replaced) could not, and neither does my Lite-On DVD burner (SOHW-832S).

could you explain what index 0 track 1 means and if my drive can read it

It is basically where there is a hidden track before track 1 on the CD. To hear the track you would put the CD in your stereo, start it playing, and then hit rewind - at which point it will rewind into the negative.

The german c't magazine just published a roundup of drives for the purpose of data/audio-ripping and -rescue. They even did a listening test on how big of a scratch a drive can handle without introducing clicks or similar artifacts.

Actually that was what I meant and didn't realize while thinking oem that I typed it as well,hence no longer Sony but now (junk labeled Sony). Think LiteOn must use all thefail qc stuff for the oem line.. Oh wait isn't that what all OEM's do

One thing people haven't mentioned is whether the drives have caching or not. My experience is that EAC works much better with a drive that doesn't cache data - specifically, ripping a scratched cd with a caching drive takes a really long time, because EAC needs to clear the memory after every pass.

Currently, my LG DVD-ROM/CD-ROM drive (don't remember the name) has caching and C2; it rips well and quickly except on scratched cd's, and also it takes awhile to clear the memory at the end of each track, so if you're ripping a cd with lots of short tracks, this slows down the extraction process considerably.

Also, my understanding is that CDParanoia isn't functional at all (at least, none of it's secure-copying features work) with drives that do caching. CDParanoia is used in CDex.

Ok so now Im curious... most of my CD's took about 1/2 hour to rip in EAC secure mode... is this unusually long? By the way Im using a Sony, and yes I did buy it because it was a brand name (From the looks of it, poor choice).

However Its only a combo drive, no DVD writing, so I will be buying a new one soon... suggestions around here seem to point towards liteon and plextor eh?

Ok so now Im curious... most of my CD's took about 1/2 hour to rip in EAC secure mode... is this unusually long? By the way Im using a Sony, and yes I did buy it because it was a brand name (From the looks of it, poor choice).

However Its only a combo drive, no DVD writing, so I will be buying a new one soon... suggestions around here seem to point towards liteon and plextor eh?

Well of course the most important question is what kind of condition were the discs in?30 min is a bit long.. a very crude average time to expect would be 10 minutes.

LiteOn has had a great rep & I have two, 1 Creative branded combo that works great.However from personal (friends etc..) & like my prior post in the thread said have hadterrible results with the oem'd for Sony ones. I've read others feel LiteOn quality seems to have dropped off recently but then again all manufacturers have their good & bad runs.

while being fast, it's also unreliable. turn off c2 for lite-on drives.

I've had no problems with mine. T&C reports identical CRCs and AR reports identical CRCs on every disc I've tried. It's an LTD163D.

were they scratched? and for the record, i was using a lite-on ltr-24103s cd-writer. so either they got better or you didn't trigger any false reads.

of course the problem is, to prove an assumption like "all lite-on drive have correct c2" wrong, all you need is one case where it didn't work whereas 1000 cases of correct operation don't prove anything. my experience is sufficient so that i will never turn on c2 for lite-on drives again out of paranoia. i'd have to double check each rip, thereby destroying any speed advantage c2 would have given me in the first place.

There is usually heavy competition between OEMs to win orders from big names like Sony. Sony would not buy hardware that didn't pass QC either.

It was addressed with a little humor. However, not to steer off topic and not bashing Sony by any means but do you really think Sony tests -every- product their name is on? From people whom have worked overseas in factories, I think not. You wouldn't believe the things that go on related to getting that little sticker on there.

QUOTE (Never_Again @ Aug 16 2005, 03:36 AM)

There you go again. There are no OEM Sony optical drives because Sony does not manufacture them.

Yes, my mistake thinking and typing different things i've clarified that as "oem'd for Sony".

They are too busy thinking up the next hottest looking or innovative product to worry about technology of yesteryear.